Sporting KC striker Teal Bunbury has struggled to find playing time and the net of late, but he
made it count last week when he scored a dramatic late-game equalizer against New England. His 89th
minute tally ensured a share of the points and kept Kansas City's 13-game unbeaten run intact.

Bunbury, always the ham, celebrated by running to the corner flag and playing "bobblehead" for the
fans.

Major American sports leagues, particularly the NFL and MLS, are structured to discourage prolonged success and prolonged failure. Parity is the goal of the leagues; they want to create competitive balance and ensure no team's fans become truly hopeless, yet certain franchises suck year-after-year, generation-after-generation.

Major American sports leagues, particularly the NFL and MLS, are structured to discourage prolonged success and prolonged failure. Parity is the goal of the leagues; they want to create competitive balance and ensure no team's fans become truly hopeless, yet certain franchises suck year-after-year, generation-after-generation.

The criteria for this list involves franchises who have not changed cities or nicknames and have
never made it to a championship final in their respective sport. A minimum of 35 years is used to
gauge a futile existence.

Teams reviewed were picked from the NFL, NBA and MLB. The NBA Finals, World Series and Super Bowl
are the significant events being evaluated.

Mark Cuban knows how to make money. One thing Mark Cuban doesn't know how to do, apparently, is
win. The latest example was when the lively owner of the Dallas Mavericks lost a bidding war with
Nolan Ryan for control of the Texas Rangers.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The Rangers were in bankruptcy court and were being sold to the highest bidder.

(Editor's Note: This article is a follow-up to two articles written in December 2011 and this
past January about St. Louis' struggles to land an MLS franchise. If you haven't read those yet, it
is highly recommended. This is Part 3 of the ongoing Soccer in St. Louis series.)

Having lived here for just about 5 months now, I can say one thing about for certain about the
St.

Fans of the New York Yankees have made Jim Hendry jokes for years. The longtime general manager
of the Chicago Cubs could never replicate the success of the Yankees. But now, the joke is on the
Yankees fans because the team has hired Hendry to be an assistant general manager.

According to reports, Hendry was given a multi-year contract and his job duties will mostly deal
with aiding Brian Cashman, the GM of the Yankees.

With a lull in the news and the MLS SuperDraft not being until January 15, I thought I would
turn to Facebook fandom numbers for the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL & MLS. I've been tracking a couple of
pages off and on but now I have complied a full list that covers all 5 leagues. I realize that
Sports Fan Graph tracks this information but I collected the final information from each Facebook
page over the course of an hour or two last evening.

Cliff Lee is baseball's biggest free agent this winter. The star lefty is arguably one of the
top five pitchers in the game. Last season, Cliff Lee pitched for the Seattle Mariners and the
Texas Rangers. After leading the Rangers to the World Series for the first time in franchise
history, his stock is higher than ever.

You can choose your own order, but here are the ten toughest franchises to coach at currently in
all of professional and college sports (three soccer teams included):

10) Oakland Raiders

Al Davis is notoriously known as the toughest NFL boss for coaches to deal with. The Hall of
Famer has gone through countless numbers of coaches since John Madden retired from the profession
in the late 70's early 80's.

It is one of the toughest coaching jobs in all of sports.Â It's right up there with coaching
the Chicago Cubs or New York Yankees, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program, or even being
Tiger Woods' golf instructor.Â

The England national team manager is one of those coveted jobs in sports that youÂ probably
don't want to get.

The Boston Red Sox success story came crashing down last month but John W Henry and Fenway
Sports Group believe the same approach can benefit Liverpool For the owners of Liverpool Football
Club â€“ John W Henry, Tom Werner and their partners in Fenway Sports Group â€“ the honeymoon is
over.

Sammy Sosa's infamous corked bat is for sale. When the incident occurred in 2003, Chicago Cubs
teammate Mike Remlinger hid the bat in his locker for Sosa. After holding onto the corked bat for
seven years, Remlinger has now put it up for auction. According to Remlinger, he first attempted to
give the corked bat back to Sosa, but Sosa didn't respond so he has made it available for a
hardcore Cubs fan to purchase.

Of all the people on the train, the one I wanted to talk to the most was the middle-aged man
with the graying goatee, traveling with wife and two children. He and his son were wearing Chelsea
jerseys. It's not rare to see folks around Chicago in soccer gear, but considering this train and
most of its occupants were heading toward Soldier Field, where Manchester United were to take on
the Chicago Fire, those two bold blue shirts stuck out.

When the Chicago Cubs signed Kosuke Fukudome out of Japan, they had huge hopes for him. As it
turns out, Kosuke Fukudome disappointed. However, the 34-year-old outfielder will now get a new
start. On Thursday, Kosuke Fukudome was traded to the Cleveland Indians for a pair of minor
leaguers.

Thankfully, broken bats almost always land harmlessly in the field of play. On Sunday, Tyler
Colvin of the Chicago Cubs wasn't so lucky. While on his way to score from third base, a broken bat
stabbed Tyler Colvin in the chest. He was taken to the hospital and is currently in stable
condition. To see the Tyler Colvin video of him getting stabbed by a broken bat, take a look at the
end of the entry.

After the Atlanta Braves lost Chipper Jones to an ACL injury, they needed to make a move if they
hoped to stay in front of the streaking Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. By trading with the
Chicago Cubs and acquiring Derrek Lee, the Braves did just that. If Lee stays healthy and continues
to swing the bat well, he could more than make up for the loss of Chipper Jones.

Last June, the Tribune ran a story that mentioned the Chicago Fire and the Chicago Cubs were at
least discussing the idea of bringing soccer to Wrigley Field for the first time since the Chicago
Sting played there in 1984.

Manchester United are in discussions to launch a pre-season tour to the United States next
summer, according to reports.

Rio Ferdinand, Manchester United's centre back, revealed the news in a tweet (pictured above) to
NFL athlete Chad Ochocinco this past Saturday. Ferdinand mentioned "We [will be] in the States
[next] August" during a conversion on Twitter between the two athletes.

Lou Piniella was expected to step down at the end of the baseball season. Instead, the Chicago
Cubs manager decided to retire on Sunday. He said that spending time with his mother is his main
motivation.

Said Piniella: "My mom needs me home and that's where I'm going."

Managing his final game, the Cubs lost to the Atlanta Braves by a final count of 16-5.

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella spent 18 years in the major leagues as a player and another 22
years as a manager. But this chapter in his life is coming to a close. On Tuesday, the 66-year-old
announced that he will retire at the end of the season.

Image: TSN.ca

Piniella made five trips to the World Series in his career, winning three.

Today, we will chew on the curious appetiser that is the Third Place Playoff Game, before
gorging on the feast of the final tomorrow, a feast that often underserves, but that nevertheless
will be utterly compelling however poor the play. That fact illustrates the point of the World Cup,
I feel.

The Rest

A bro hug in 2011 isn't a big deal. That is, unless the hug is between Jim Hendry and Albert
Pujols. Why? Jim Hendry is the general manager of the Chicago Cubs, while Albert Pujols of the St.
Louis Cardinals is a free agent after the 2011 baseball season. The hug has Cardinals fans
screaming tampering and Cubs fans fantasizing about signing baseball's best player.

Tonight the Chicago Riot take on the Missouri Comets at the Odeum in Villa Park, IL at 7:00 PM
CST. Is there another big game going on? I wouldn't know. The Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks
play tomorrow night, the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, and Chicago Fire are all dangerously
close to starting pre-season and I know that the Chicago Bears are out so it's just the Riot as far
as I know.

After signing Juan Uribe, the Los Angeles Dodgers needed to free up room in their infield. They
were able to accomplish just that by trading Ryan Theriot to the St. Louis Cardinals for Blake
Hawksworth. The move will allow Uribe to play second base for the Dodgers, while Theriot will get a
new start after struggling in his 54 games with the Dodgers last season.

In one of the scariest scenes of the baseball season, Tyler Colvin was stabbed by a broken bat
on Sunday. The broken bat penetrated his upper chest and, although he's in stable condition,
Colvin's injuries were serious enough for the Cubs to rule him out for the rest of the season. At
the hospital, doctors placed a tube in his chest in an attempt to avoid a collapsed lung.

Perhaps I've come to this realisation before, but the weekends with no football seem to shine an
even brighter light on how large of a role supporting the Arsenal plays in my life.Â Yes, watching
the Arsenal, I realise, provides my weekend life with much needed structure (in addition to a
perfect excuse to have a few morning pints in lieu of a 5K jog by the lake), as well as complete
immunity from friend and family obligations for a handful of hours on any particular Saturday or
Sunday.

Roberto Mancini has one of the best worst jobs in professional sports. Being the manager of a
team as ambitious as Manchester City is right up there with being the head honcho of Notre Dame's
college football team or MLB's the Chicago Cubs. In other words Mancini has been given a good
product to put out on the field and the expectations are sky high this season for his Blues
squad.

Spain is the Chicago Cubs of the World Cup and the tremendously talented football nation is
still in search of their first ever World Cup.Â The closest the nation has ever come to hoisting
the trophy was in 1950 when the squad finished in fourth place.